<p>I’m second to none in advocating participation in math competitions, partly because I like my son to have teammates. But NEVER, EVER, EVER steer a kid to an EC that he just plain isn’t interested in. DO nudge your child to do something well, but figure out what your child’s interests and strengths are before deciding what the something to encourage is. </p>
<p>I don’t think high school level math contests of the best kind are much of a boost to SAT and ACT math scores. (My son has an 800 on the SAT I math section, obtained at age eleven, and a 35 on the ACT math section, obtained at age twelve.) What helps one get high SAT or ACT math scores, as already noted above, is MASTERY of math that is mostly late elementary school mathematics, and good reading ability. </p>
<p>As to scholarships, having SOME hook that gets one into a well-endowed, meets-100-percent-of-need university is perhaps even better than getting a traditional third-party scholarship. But that hook should be something meaningful to the student. If it is not meaningful to the student, the probability of getting admission to a generous school, or a third-party scholarship, is greatly reduced, because the activity looks like yet another example of resume padding. The genuine math-likers who develop their math ability to the highest level may or may not participate in math contests at all–I know some very strong math students who do not–but they can’t hide their enthusiasm for learning math well. The same applies to any other EC that your son may desire to pursue. </p>
<p>Get some good parent-child communication going and find out what can build on your child’s intrinsic motivation.</p>